The invention relates to a hair-cutting system including a hair-cutting apparatus for cutting hairs, said apparatus being held in a hand during operation, and having a toothed cutting device, having a comb device mounted on the hair-cutting apparatus in the area of its toothed cutting device and having juxtaposed comb teeth, said comb teeth each having a distal tooth end and a proximal tooth end and a contact zone extending between the two tooth ends, and of which at least the comb teeth are connected to holding means of the hair-cutting apparatus with the aid of connecting means, and in which system during operation at least some of the comb teeth can be applied to a skin area of a person with at least those areas of their contact zones which adjoin the distal tooth ends and can be moved over this skin area in an operating direction with their distal tooth ends facing forward.
Such a hair-cutting system of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example from the patent document WO 98/25734 A1 which corresponds substantially to U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,999, assigned to U.S. Philips Corporation. In this known hair-cutting system the comb device comprises two guide member configurations which are rigidly connected to the comb teeth and which extend in a longitudinal direction of the housing of the hair-cutting apparatus, which guide members engage in guide grooves in the hair-cutting apparatus and by means of which the comb device is movably mounted with respect to the hair-cutting apparatus, so that during operation of the hair-cutting system it is simply possible to select different cutting lengths by moving the comb device. Because of the rigid connection of the two guide member configurations with the comb teeth it is necessary that, in order to guarantee a correct hair-cutting process by means of the known hair-cutting system, the hair-cutting apparatus with the comb device should always be held in such a relative position with respect to the skin area of a person that, as the comb teeth of the comb device are moved over a skin area, an optimum contact with this skin area is achieved for at least those parts of the contact zones of the comb teeth which adjoin the distal tooth ends. However, unfortunately such a contact of these parts of the contact zones of the comb teeth with a skin area depends to a large extent on the dexterity and experience of a user of the hair-cutting system. In the case of lack of experience and lack of dexterity it is not unlikely that the distal tooth ends of the comb teeth are clear of the skin area just passed, as a result of which the hairs in this area are not or not satisfactorily raised and are therefore guided unsatisfactorily towards the toothed cutting device, which results in an unsatisfactory cutting action. When the user lacks experience and/or dexterity it is also possible that the distal tooth ends of the comb teeth are applied too steeply to a skin area of a person, in which case not only those parts of the contact zones of the comb teeth which adjoin the distal tooth ends but all the contact zones of the comb teeth also are clear of the relevant skin area and the comb teeth occupy too steep positions relative to the relevant skin area, as a result of which the hairs situated in this skin area are fended off by the comb teeth, which likewise results in these hairs not being raised properly and leads to an unsatisfactory cutting action.